Beginnings

Beginnings are my favorite things. Beginnings are new babies, puppies, the first day of school, and the first kiss. I love buying fabrics for a new quilt, and choosing yarn for a new sweater. Beginnings, while they are still themselves, hold the promise of perfection.

When I am beginning that sweater, I imagine it finished, fitting perfectly, and making me feel beautiful when I wear it. I don't envision dropped stitches or mysterious bulges from losing sight of the pattern while talking on the phone. Beginnings are free of the heartaches that often come with finishing. When I am beginning, I don't yet know how hard it will be, what mistakes I'll make, or what part of me will be used up in the process. Finishing has its own rewards, but dreams belong to beginnings.

So....I began this blog and haven't written in it for nearly a year. I am beginning again. A lot has happened since the last entry, but I am not picking up where I left off. It is a NEW beginning and I am going to write more. Fall does that to me. I am energized by the crisp weather and the falling leaves. Maybe it stems from childhood and that first day of school, but I have always loved the autumn.

Here I am at 62, beginning again, this time a new job. I thought I would be finishing jobs at this age, not starting new ones. But the economy and our out-of-whack elected officials (don't get me started on this one, that is a blog of its own!) have started a downturn that may end with all of us out of work. So we work on, my husband and I, and hope our health and energy outlive the need to do so.

This new job has lots of beginnings for me. One of them is commuting with public transportation. My new company is in downtown Seattle, where parking is non-existent, and they pay for my bus/train pass, so it is a no-brainer for me to use it. But I was like a little kid for the first week, nervous about whether the right bus would stop the right place, etc. I tried several combinations of train/bus/bus/train, and finally settled on an express bus from a park-and-ride lot. Now I am a pro, and know all the bus routes and where they stop. And I am enjoying not buying gas or paying a bridge toll. There is an added bonus to commuting by public transport: I get to knit for 45 minutes each way. Therefore I will also be finishing more!